Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Introduce by defining ethics.
• Elaborate its determinants in human action.
• Now define values and list down the difference between ethics and values.

Introduction

• At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.
• Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy. The term is derived from the Greek word ethos which can mean custom, habit, character or disposition.

Body

Ethics covers the following dilemmas:

• How to live a good life
• Our rights and responsibilities
• The language of right and wrong
• Moral decisions - what is good and bad?

Determinants of Ethics: These are the factors which decide whether the action being judged is ethical or not. Most of the moralists agree that to judge the goodness or badness of any particular human act, three elements must be weighed from which every act derives its morality. They are:

• The object of the human act: The object is usually regarded as the primary factor for the moral judgement of a human act. An act is generally classified as morally good, bad or indifferent from the viewpoint of an object. For a morally good act, the object of it must be good.
• The circumstances contextualising the human act: Circumstances can make an otherwise good action better for e.g. giving food to a person who is almost dying of starvation.
  
  • They can make an otherwise indifferent, a good act. For e.g. sitting with a person who is feeling lonely.
  • At the same time, they can also make an act which is evil in its object to be worse. For e.g. robbing a beggar from his/her only meal of the day.
• The end or the intention of the agent in performing a human act: A good intention can make an act better. for e.g. helping a poor person to start a small business with the intention of making him independent.

Values: Values refer to the important and enduring beliefs or principles, based on which an individual makes judgements in life.

The fundamental differences between ethics and values are described in the table given below:

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	ETHICS	VALUES
What it does?	Restricts	Motivates
Meaning	Ethics refers to the guidelines for conduct, that addresses questions about morality	Value is defined as the principles and ideals, that helps them in making judgement of what is more important.
What are they?	It is a system of moral principles, that guides our action.	It functions as a stimulus for thinking.
Consistency	Uniform	Differs from person to person
Expresses	What is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.	What we want to do or achieve.

Conclusion

• While ethics is consistently applied over the period and remains the same for all human beings. Values have an individualistic approach.
• Ethics are the set of rules that govern the behaviour of a person, established by a group or culture. Values refer to the beliefs for which a person has an enduring preference.
• Ethics and values together lay the foundation for sustainability. Establishing ethics for an organisation can determine its core values.